San Francisco — Baiju Prafulkumar Bhatt, the 40-year-old Indian-American co-founder of the commission-free trading app Robinhood, has been named among the 10 youngest members of the Forbes 400 list after the publication estimated his net worth at about $6 billion.
Bhatt’s rise is rooted in a classic immigrant-American story: the son of Gujarati immigrants who grew up in Poquoson, Virginia, he earned degrees in physics and mathematics from Stanford University before teaming up with Vlad Tenev to launch Robinhood in 2013. The app’s rapid growth and its 2021 public offering are central to Bhatt’s wealth.
Forbes and company filings show Bhatt still holds a meaningful stake in Robinhood — roughly in the single digits — which, combined with the firm’s market value and other investments, underpins his billionaire status. Robinhood’s platform, credited with democratizing access to retail investing, remains the primary source of his fortune.
In recent years Bhatt has shifted some of his focus beyond fintech. After stepping away from day-to-day executive duties at Robinhood, he founded Aetherflux, a startup that aims to develop space-based solar power and other large-scale energy technologies — a move that reflects his longtime interest in engineering and innovation.
Bhatt’s inclusion on the Forbes list has drawn attention both for his tech success and for what it signals about the continuing financial returns to founders of consumer-facing fintech platforms. Observers say his path — from Stanford projects to building a household name in investing apps — underscores how equity in high-growth tech companies can translate into significant personal wealth for early founders.
